‘ O ship aboard the ship! Ship of the body, ship of the soul, voyaging, voyaging, voyaging’
Walt Whitman
At the end of this wettest summer in 60 years, I am about to go off to Cornwall for our ‘summer holiday’, and … I found a great bunch of creative folks who are willing to set out on a journey with me into yet unknown territory: a ‘Ship of Fools’!
Over the past two weeks I have sent out invites to people to come aboard a project which I have been dreaming about for some time, and what a great response!!
In my call-out I wrote that as a project I envision ‘The Ship of Fools’ to ‘explore connections between the historic reality of the ‘Ships of Fools’, the archetype of the sacred Fool/ Jester, the artist, shamanic experience and psychiatry’s definition of madness’.
Gosh! That’s quite a menu! Where to start?
I think it all started when I was running a weekly Art Therapy group for people with long-term and enduring mental health problems, together with Mikhail Karikis, who offered so generously his time as volunteer with our arts therapies team. It was like finding gold dust in this hospital, which seemed to fall apart on all ends: plaster peeling, leaving little piles on the corridor floor, water dripping from ceilings, looming restructurings within the NHS trust, staff-cuts, uncertainties…Still, we were a team of strong Arts Therapists trying to keep our spirits up despite this climate, offering a service despite…always despite…
Mikhail and I held the group in a large, quiet and well stocked art therapy room with a wonderful view into a garden and out to some majestic chestnut trees.
The room and group was often commented on: as a refuge from the anonymous metropolis; a space to just be, to find companionship and some relief from a pervasive sense of loneliness and isolation; a place to try things out, to take risks, to be as creative as possible…over time many references emerged of ships and boats in most of our images. I had made images of boats from the beginning and often I felt as if the room was one large boat, that carried us across often quite choppy seas during the three and a half years. Through spring storms, lulls, fresh waters… and through so many seasons!
There were boats with proud flags, and some with frayed sails; ships on calm waters, with no breeze in the air and struggling in turbulent seas; a fleet of boats sailing down a river and a lonely one out at sea. There were ships sailing under a sunset, lost in the fog, moving under a moonlight, waiting in a harbour; a boat propped up on an island or even one stuck in a tree.
It was such a rich symbol and metaphor which held me and all of us and allowed us to express, communicate, process and grow. Of course ‘relating’ and ‘ships’ belong together in the English language- companionSHIP, friendSHIP, and relationship!!
I feel blessed having been able to run this group, I was deeply moved by the commitment of its members, by people’s courage to venture out into new territories, take risks, discover- the group taught me so much and it was very difficult having to close it down as part of a` so-called ‘restructuring of services’, which really is such a euphemism for changes that are purely political, not taking into account the grass-roots level, service users needs and are not even economical and have caused many service users such pain and loss!
It was during the time running he group that I learnt about the ‘Ship of Fools’: the popular satire and allegory of the same name, published by Sebastian Brant in 1494 in Basel, which inspired also numerous artworks, but also shockingly, the fact that the ‘Ship of Fools’ was a reality during the middle ages, where people who were deemed mad, ill or simply ‘other’ were put on boats and floated downriver: the crazy, queer, difficult, creative folk left to their own devices, afloat!
The ship as has always been a complex symbol of transition, containment, community, confinement, freedom and displacement. As a liminal space, the boat carries us between countries and worlds and it’s symbolism connects with possibilities, dreams and fragility. In shamanic societies shamans would get together to form a ‘spirit boat’ in times of need, to journey into other realities in the service of the community.
As artists we are often involved in actions and gestures which would be seen as crazy, compulsive or even psychotic in other contexts. To explore these threads in more depth and in a community of creative people is what I am after!
Having left the NHS after over 7 years last December has given me well needed breathing space and distance. From here I hope to make new and different work.
Foucault states that ‘in civilizations without boats, dreams dry up’. So, lets counter this dryness of dreams and create spaces that allow us to dream and celebrate the liminal!
The ‘SHIP OF FOOLS’ can be anything we make it! As grand, small, intimate, challenging or funny as we like: a ‘Voyage of Fools’; a boat of bread or paper; a journey down river with performances, film, installations and intimate encounters; a showcase or one-off spectacle of work created in workshops addressing the stigma of mental health;
local, national, virtual or taking to the seas; I envision this project to change shape, scale and location over time, inviting different collaborators for various projects.
I am excited and can’t wait to set sail!
PS: All painted pics are mine except of course Hieronymus Bosch’s!
